Toddling delight

She's 18 months, already!  A walking, 'talking' tot. Where did the last year and a half go?  

Thumper, wearing a lovely summer dress,
brought back from Bali by CutLuce and DesignerMonkey.

Thumper frequently mimics us and works hard to fit in to the family. She has developed a good appreciation of balls under her big brother's tuition. She likes to join BallFiend in playing with playdough, drawing with crayon and painting. Her skills with a fork and spoon are exemplary - she uses them with greater dexterity than some four-and-a-half year olds I know. She even mimics me when I am rubbing moisturiser on my hands. Very strange! She loves to carry her potty around the house and practices sitting on it, but mostly it is used to hold toys or her cup of water. 

She runs about with a cute waddle, arms held out from her body for balance, shrieking with delight if BallFiend is chasing her. She always busy, carrying small books and toys from one end of the house to the other. It takes less than 15 minutes for a tidy house to be transformed by Whirlwind Thumper, with debris scattered everywhere. And it is worst on days when BallFiend is at kindergarten... though I haven't worked out why yet.

She sleeps well, going to bed about 7.30 pm and lying in bed awake until BallFiend is brought to bed 15 minutes later so she doesn't miss out on hearing DeepSpice's 'talking story'. Dressed in her warm pyjamas on cold evenings, she looks just like Teletubbie! Mostly, she goes straight to sleep and doesn't wake until 8.00 am the following morning (unless BallFiend wakes her earlier when he is in need of an audience). Although sometimes our nights are interrupted by her screaming in her sleep... no idea what sort of thing a toddler would be having nightmares about. 

Her language is amazing, with an ever-growing vocabulary of spoken and signed words. Most recently she started saying "cheese", after we played the Cheese song from Tim Minchin's Heritage Orchestra album (which I got at his recent Melbourne concert). She loves to read books - she is always coming up to DeepSpice or me with a book in hand saying "read, read". I am continually impressed with her ability to follow directions of two steps (eg. pick up that book and take it to your bedroom). Singing is another favourite activity - currently her favourite song is Baa Baa Black Sheep, which she wanders about singing: 'baa baa baa baa...' 

Sadly however, she cannot possibly by my own child as she loves shoes and hats, playing with dolls (her 'baay-bees') and doing feminine things like playing with toy kitchens, dolls and pretending to mop the floor! I'm not too worried though, as she spends more time playing with toy cars and trucks than BallFiend ever has.

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